After the standard tournament we had a draft - my personal favourite format, although i'm not quite as keen on the SoM format itself. Scars is okay, and it doesn't seem to rely on bombs as much as M11 before it did, but the lack of exciting rares does make the pack opening part slightly less exciting. As much as i enjoy playing nuts and bolts limited for limited's sake, i like to open an awesome card as much as the next guy.
I ended up with just two rares, neither of which were on-colour but both of which will see their way into my EDH decks. I know this isn't very "Spikey" but i just couldn't resist, besides, True Conviction seems amazing for my soldier deck! On top of that, i actually ended up with a solid deck and a 2-1 record. I would've gone 3-0 but my 3rd opponent simply drafted a better deck than mine and piloted it nicely. We had an insanely long stalemate game which was broken by Heavy Arbalest + Infect guys combo. It sounds janky, i know, but when both players have 4-5 medium sized guys each it gets the job done.
As fun as that game was, and don't get me started on my first round game against the Ajani kid from the last post (I ended up milling him in both games with Screeching Silclaw - i'm not joking), i actually wanted to write a little about my draft technique for this set.
I don't pretend to be a limited god - although i do enjoy it more than standard, on the whole - but i've done well in my few Scars drafts and feel like a lot of people seem to be missing something in Scars. While everyone else veers towards Infect.dec or Metalcraft.dec, i've had much more success with Goodstuff.dec. I often end up in black because of the "nobody drafts it" feeling it has (at the last Steel City Magic i ended up with three copies of Grasp of Darkness!) I go down the LSV-style of card advantage a lot, which is easier than you might think in this set.
Instil Infection seems like a pretty poor card in most sets and would likely make the cut as filler once in a while. But it's been incredible for me so far in Scars. Against Infect decks in particular it wrecks so many of their important creatures (regenerate blight mamba? nah) at the same time as drawing you a card. In terms of consistency i also rate Grasp higher than Galvanic Blast. Blast is a great card, to be sure, but without metalcraft it's merely "good." Grasp, on the other hand, kills basically every relevant creature in the set.
Oh, and lest we forget, black has Skinrender. D'uh.
As for blue, it feels like a pretty normal set for that colour. Proliferate is fairly underwhelming to my mind so far. I did have Steady Progress this weekend with both Trigon of Corruption and Culling Dais but never at the same time. Maybe i just haven't played with it enough. I like Sky Eel School a lot and Plated Seastrider holds the Infect deck off for quite a while by itself. Again, none of these cards are spectacular, but that's the point i'm making.
Would i pass Skithiryx or Hand of the Praetors though? Of course not.
Monday 1 November 2010
Scars Game Day - Oct 30
So with a few tweaks, i took the deck to game day this past weekend. I added 2 Memoricide to the main deck (removing 2 Crystal Ball) and added one Consume the Meek to the sideboard (removing a Marsh Casualities). I am looking to swap the remaining two MC when i can.
It was a pretty decent turnout by the shop's usual standard so i had four rounds to put the deck through its paces.
Round one was against Owen, playing UW control. He's a solid player who knows what he's doing but i usually fancy my chances against that deck. In game one neither of us seem to have actually taken any damage, except from a Sign in Blood. However, he seemed to draw the right answers in the form of Mana Leak at a couple of key times. I had no answer to Venser (2nd time in two tournaments that i got an emblem on the other side of the table). Artifacts are also near impossible for me to deal with and once he used Volition Reins on my Titan it was over. I managed to remove it instantly with Consuming Vapors but the damage was done. Sun Titan followed by Frost Titan was too much for my Zombie tokens to handle. Game Two was much closer but i didn't take as many notes. I did make a misplay, attacking into a Mystifying Maze when i had Tec Edge ready to go but the power of Planeswalkers was plain for me to see in this game. Please, Wizards, give us a good black walker soon!
Round two was fairly silly by all accounts. I played a kid who was about 11 i guess. His deck was clearly built out of a fat pack and some boosters, although he did have a couple of decent cards in there. In game one i destroyed him with two Nantuko Shades (i really think Mono Black Aggro might be a deck) while a couple of Gatekeepers kept his board clear. Game two was actually hillarious. I drew NOTHING useful for about six turns and he managed to ultimate both Jace 1.0 and Ajani. He gave me multiple chances to topdeck a Doom Blade (or anything) by playing poorly but suffice to say 11 lands are no answer to a 38/38 Avatar token. After that ridiculous example of the luck aspect of Magic, game three was another blowout. He managed a bit of damage this time but once i got my board going it was completely one-sided. I pretty much learned nothing about the deck in this game, except a growing suspicion that i could convert to aggro.
I have confused rounds three and four in my memory but i think it was Valakut next, the same guy i played at FNM last week. In game one i flooded out badly. Even though i got off to a near perfect start, making him discard Harrow on turn one, then Memoricide-ing Primeval Titan, i somehow failed to win. My shuffling seems to have failed me as i once again got flooded. In a game where both players are topdecking, Valakut is practically unbeatable. Every time either of us drew a land it pushed him closer to an inevitable victory. Game two was closer, and i made a pretty sweet play, but still lost. It was pretty much the same story as game one, but i'll brag about my sweet play. I managed to kill a Primeval Titan with Consuming Vapors and happily passed the turn. He then topdecked an Avenger of Zendikar but i had Consume the Meek in hand. I untapped, cast CTM, killing the tokens. Consuming Vapors resolves, killing the Avenger and netting me a hand 5 life.
I got him down to 9 life but just couldn't race fast enough. Valakut really pushes me towards even more disruption. After the game, Quinton suggested Sadistic Sacrament and it seems pretty incredible against Valakut at least. Gutting a deck of its three best cards is pretty disgusting, especially in a deck with Haunting Echoes. I'm going to order two this week and do some testing with them in the maindeck.
Anyway, onto game four, and i played Chris. When i saw he was playing Esper Control i was pretty confident. I've never lost to that deck with Mono Black and that didn't change. In game one i managed to remove most of his threats before they did anything. I seemed to draw tons of disruption and just enough removal to fill the gaps. I ended the game on 22 life, although i have to say that he got pretty flooded. Game two was a pretty similar affair. It's rare to see Chris tilt but he was getting pretty frustrated with his land topdecking. I felt kinda bad for him, but since it was happening to me too (and had happened twice already that day) i was just happy for the win. Overall, this match was a perfect example of what i want this deck to do. Put down a couple of hard-to-answer threats and then protect them with removal and discard.
I ended the tournament 2-2, and with a bit more luck i could have easily gotten myself a pretty Tempered Steel to go with my Mitotic Slime. As it is, i had to settle for 11th out of 21. It was a much more re-assuring tournament though, and Sadistic Sacrament seems like a very useful addition. Memoricide worked wonders for me when i cast it and made the near-impossible Valakut matchup closer than it's ever been for me. At Steel City in a couple of weeks i hope to Sacrament the Valakuts themselves and totally destroy the deck's game plan. We'l see how it goes.
It was a pretty decent turnout by the shop's usual standard so i had four rounds to put the deck through its paces.
Round one was against Owen, playing UW control. He's a solid player who knows what he's doing but i usually fancy my chances against that deck. In game one neither of us seem to have actually taken any damage, except from a Sign in Blood. However, he seemed to draw the right answers in the form of Mana Leak at a couple of key times. I had no answer to Venser (2nd time in two tournaments that i got an emblem on the other side of the table). Artifacts are also near impossible for me to deal with and once he used Volition Reins on my Titan it was over. I managed to remove it instantly with Consuming Vapors but the damage was done. Sun Titan followed by Frost Titan was too much for my Zombie tokens to handle. Game Two was much closer but i didn't take as many notes. I did make a misplay, attacking into a Mystifying Maze when i had Tec Edge ready to go but the power of Planeswalkers was plain for me to see in this game. Please, Wizards, give us a good black walker soon!
Round two was fairly silly by all accounts. I played a kid who was about 11 i guess. His deck was clearly built out of a fat pack and some boosters, although he did have a couple of decent cards in there. In game one i destroyed him with two Nantuko Shades (i really think Mono Black Aggro might be a deck) while a couple of Gatekeepers kept his board clear. Game two was actually hillarious. I drew NOTHING useful for about six turns and he managed to ultimate both Jace 1.0 and Ajani. He gave me multiple chances to topdeck a Doom Blade (or anything) by playing poorly but suffice to say 11 lands are no answer to a 38/38 Avatar token. After that ridiculous example of the luck aspect of Magic, game three was another blowout. He managed a bit of damage this time but once i got my board going it was completely one-sided. I pretty much learned nothing about the deck in this game, except a growing suspicion that i could convert to aggro.
I have confused rounds three and four in my memory but i think it was Valakut next, the same guy i played at FNM last week. In game one i flooded out badly. Even though i got off to a near perfect start, making him discard Harrow on turn one, then Memoricide-ing Primeval Titan, i somehow failed to win. My shuffling seems to have failed me as i once again got flooded. In a game where both players are topdecking, Valakut is practically unbeatable. Every time either of us drew a land it pushed him closer to an inevitable victory. Game two was closer, and i made a pretty sweet play, but still lost. It was pretty much the same story as game one, but i'll brag about my sweet play. I managed to kill a Primeval Titan with Consuming Vapors and happily passed the turn. He then topdecked an Avenger of Zendikar but i had Consume the Meek in hand. I untapped, cast CTM, killing the tokens. Consuming Vapors resolves, killing the Avenger and netting me a hand 5 life.
I got him down to 9 life but just couldn't race fast enough. Valakut really pushes me towards even more disruption. After the game, Quinton suggested Sadistic Sacrament and it seems pretty incredible against Valakut at least. Gutting a deck of its three best cards is pretty disgusting, especially in a deck with Haunting Echoes. I'm going to order two this week and do some testing with them in the maindeck.
Anyway, onto game four, and i played Chris. When i saw he was playing Esper Control i was pretty confident. I've never lost to that deck with Mono Black and that didn't change. In game one i managed to remove most of his threats before they did anything. I seemed to draw tons of disruption and just enough removal to fill the gaps. I ended the game on 22 life, although i have to say that he got pretty flooded. Game two was a pretty similar affair. It's rare to see Chris tilt but he was getting pretty frustrated with his land topdecking. I felt kinda bad for him, but since it was happening to me too (and had happened twice already that day) i was just happy for the win. Overall, this match was a perfect example of what i want this deck to do. Put down a couple of hard-to-answer threats and then protect them with removal and discard.
I ended the tournament 2-2, and with a bit more luck i could have easily gotten myself a pretty Tempered Steel to go with my Mitotic Slime. As it is, i had to settle for 11th out of 21. It was a much more re-assuring tournament though, and Sadistic Sacrament seems like a very useful addition. Memoricide worked wonders for me when i cast it and made the near-impossible Valakut matchup closer than it's ever been for me. At Steel City in a couple of weeks i hope to Sacrament the Valakuts themselves and totally destroy the deck's game plan. We'l see how it goes.
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